Method of manufacturing an eyeglass frame

ABSTRACT

A METHOD OF FORMING A LENS SURROUND EYEGLASS FRAME BY MOLDING THE FRAME AS A UNITARY STRUCTURE IN A CAVITY BETWEEN A PAIR OF COOPERATING MOLD BLOCKS, THE CAVITY BEING ORIENTED IN AN ANGULAR POSITION RELATIVE TO THE SEPARATION DIRECTION OF THE MOLD BLOCKS SO THAT EACH SURFACE THEREOF IS FREELY RETRACTABLE OVER CORRESPONDING EYEGLASS FRAME SURFACES MOLDED IN THE CAVITY DURING SEPARATION THE BLOCKS.

Nov. 23, 1971 A. c. PETITTO METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AN EYEGLASS FRAME Original Filed Sept. 6, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2

Nov. 23, 1971 A. c. PETITTO 3,621,544

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AN EYEGLASS FRAME Original Filed Sept. 6. 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 F I I 9 I v I I Nov. 23, 1971 A. c. PETITTO METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AN EYEGLASS FRAME Original Filed Sept. 6, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG" United States Patent 0 3,621,544 METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AN EYEGLASS FRAME Albert C. Petitto, Hudson, Mass., assignor to Foster Grant (30., Inc., Leominster, Mass.

Original application Sept. 6, 1966, Ser. No. 577,321. Divided and this application Sept. 2, 1969, Ser. No. 854,421

US. Cl. 29-20 Int. Cl. 132% N24 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This application is a division of application Ser. No. 577,321, filed Sept. 6, 1966.

This invention relates generally to the art of manufacturing eyeglasses such as those of the sun and prescription type, and more particularly to an improved method of manufacturing molded plastic frames for eyeglasses.

The formation of the undercut grooves in molded plastic eyeglass frames has long presented a major obstruction to the fast and economical molding of such frames. Although numerous devices have been advanced for forming such undercut grooves, these devices have not been entirely satisfactory, particularly for use in manufacturing economical eyeglass frames, in that they have generally been prohibitively expensive, required excessive operation time, or have required excessive maintenance to reliably produce quality frames. Moreover, these prior devices have not been readily adaptable to produce frames of the type wherein elongated curved lenses are extended around the temples, such as for example to protect the eye from peripheral glare and to provide unobstructed peripheral vision.

Another difliculty encountered in the manufacture of eyeglass is the assembling of the lens in the lens-retaining groove of the frame. This is normally accomplished, particularly in the sunglass art, by springing or snapping the lens into place in the frame. This necessarily requires that close tolerances be maintained both on the size of the lens itself and on the lens retaining groove in the frame in order that the lens may be snapped into and firmly retained in the groove.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of manufacturing eyeglasses having lens-retaining grooves which avoids the above mentioned difliculties encountered in the prior art.

A further object is to provide an improved method of manufacturing eyeglasses which avoids the necessity of maintaining the usual extremely close tolerances on the dimension of the lens element and on the dimension of the lens-retainin g groove in the frame element.

In the attainment of the foregoing and other objects, an important feature of this invention resides in being able to mold eyeglass frames having lens-retaining grooves without the use of expandable mold cores or other complex molding mechanisms. According to this invention, the cavity between cooperating, separable mold blocks is oriented in a particular manner whereby all surfaces of the cavity are disposed in angular positions relative to the direction of mold block separation whereby the cavity surfaces freely retract, or slide apart, from the molded frame during sepaartion of them old blocks. In molding some types of grooved frames, it has been found to be advantageous to mold the frame in a discontinuous or separated manner, whereby portions of the frame are deformed from their normal positions during molding to allow correct angular positioning of the surfaces thereof. Subsequently, the deformed portions may easily be deflected into their normal positions and connected to form continuous, lens-surrounding frames.

In carrying out this method of molding eyeglass frames, novel frames construction have also been discovered in which new and improved results have been realized. Besides being able to mold common types of eyeglass frames in which the lens-surrounding portions are generally flat or slightly and fitted with separate temple pieces, an important feature of this invention resides in being able to mold, for example, the frame as a unitary structure including a resilient bow-and-temple member of generally U-shaped configuration adapted to resiliently engage both sides of a wearers head. In this case, a noseengaging bridge piece projects downwardly from the central portion of the bow-and-temple member, and an eye wire, i.e., the lower plastic lens holding portion of the frame, extends laterally from each side of the bridge element beneath the bow-and-temple member to define with the bowand-temple member an opening for receiving and supporting an elongated rearwardly curved lens member. Opposing lens-retaining grooves are molded in the opposing surfaces of the bow-and-temple member and the respective eye wires for engaging and supporting the upper and lower peripheral edges of the respective lenses. The curvature of the bow-and-temple member and the resiliency of the lens material effectively retains the lens elements in position so that it is not necessary to provide a lens-retaining groove in the end portions of the lens openings. Preferably, the lens elements are formed from a flat sheet of flexible material; however, if desired, the lens elements may be formed from curved material. The inner ledge of the lens-retaining groove may be terminated at a point spaced from the ends of the elongated lens opening to provide access from the inside of the frame to the lens retaining groove so that the flexible lens may be installed in the lens opening by deflecting the eye wire and bow-and-temple members sufliciently to permit the lens to be pressed into position. If desired, the eye Wire may be molded having a free end which may subsequently be permanently secured to the bow portion of the bow-and-temple element. After molding the lens-surrounding frame portion in a discontinuous and deformed manner it may subsequently be deflected into its normal position and permanently secured in such position. In this manner, frame portions of the mold cavity may be molded by simple mold blocks without resorting to the more complicated mechanism for producing irregular molded surfaces such as grooves.

In some instances, the lens retaining groove is not required in the vertical portion of the lens opening, the entire frame structure may be injection molded as a unitary element without encountering the normal difficulties in forming an undercut groove around the entire periphery of a lens opening.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description taken with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a unitary U-shaped eyeglass assembly in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section view taken along ilne 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a unitary molded frame element of the type employed in the sunglass assembly shown in FIG. 1, with the lower injection mold employed to form the frame element being shown in phantom;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation view of the frame shown in FIG. 5, with the injection mold part line shown in phantom;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 77 of FIG. 5 and illustrating the configuration of the upper and lower injection mold blocks;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 but taken on line 88 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 7 but taken on line 99 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 7 but taken on line 1010 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 7 but taken on line 1111 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 12 is perspective, view of an alternate embodiment of the sunglass assembly; and

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 13-13 of FIG. 12 and illustrating the configuration of the upper and lower mold blocks employed to mold this alternate construction.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, an improved sunglass assembly manufactured in accordance with the method of the present invention is indicated generally by the reference numeral 10 and includes a unitary resilient bow-and-tem-ple member 11, the temple portion 12, 13 of which are adapted to engage each side of a wearers head. A nose-engaging bridge piece 14 depends downwardly from the central portion of the bow section 15 of the bowand-temple member 11. Since the structure is symmetrical about a vertical center plane passing through the bridge piece, only one side of the assembly will be described in detail. In the drawings, identical reference numerals are used to designate similar parts or opposed sides of the structure. An integrally molded plastic eye wire 16 projects from the side of the bridge piece 14 and extends generally parallel to and spaced beneath the bow portion 15 and a part of the temple segment 12, of the bow-and-temple member 11. The lens wire 16 terminates in a free end having a convex end surface 18, and is adapted to be received in a slot integrally molded in the concave surface area of the temple element 12 as shown at 24 in FIG. 4. With the lug 22 snapped into the slot 24, the eye wire 16 cooperates with the temple element 12 and a segment of the bridge element 15 of the bow-and-temple member 11 to define a lens retaining opening in the eyeglass frame, the lens opening extending across the front or bow portion of the frame and rearwardly along the temples of the wearer in position to shield the wearers eyes from periph eral glare.

The lens wire 16 is formed with an upwardly directed groove 25 in its upper surface to provide inner and outer lens retaining shoulders 26, 27 for engaging the peripheral edge of an elongated flexible lens element 28. Similarly, the bow-and-temple member 11 has a downwardly directed groove 30 formed in a portion of its lower surface in opposition to the groove 25, to thereby provide inner and outer shoulders 31, 32, respectively for engaging the upper peripheral edge of the lens 28 to retain the lens in the lens opening between the bow-and-temple member 11 and the wire 16. The bridge element 14 acts as a stop by engaging the end of the elongated lens element 28 to retain the lens against axial sliding movement when positioned in the lens opening between the bow-and-temple member and the lens wire. I

Referring now to FIGS. 5 through 11, it is seen that the eyeglass frame described may be injection molded as a unitary structure from a single homogeneous mass of thermoplastic synthetic resin material without necessitating the use of complex molding equipment or techniques. This is made possible by the unique design of the frame structure which provides firm, positive support for the lens members without the necessity of the undercut groove completely encircling the periphery of the lenses. This makes it possible for the frame to be injection molded in a separable mold block assembly having a mold cavity completely devoid of undercut portions.

In molding the above-described novel frame, as well as other different types of frames, a pair of separable mold block elements 35, 36 are provided, with each having a cavity portion therein adapted to cooperately define a mold cavity in the configuration of the eyeglass frame when the mold blocks are in the closed position. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the mold blocks are shaped to separate along the temple portions of the mold cavity, which temple portions are disposed at a substantial mold angle with respect to the direction of the movement of the upper mold block 35 to open and close the mold, this direction of movement being assumed, for convenience of description, to be in the vertical direction. With a mold angle of approximately 30 as illustrated in FIG. 6, all upwardly and inwardly directed or inclined surfaces of the bridge piece and the lens wire are offset horizontally with respect to the bowand-temple member so that all upwardly and inwardly directed or inclined surfaces of the bow-and-temple member, the bridge piece or the lens wires may be molded by the upper mold block 35. Similarily, all downwardly directed or inclined surfaces may be shaped by the lower mold block 36.

As shown in FIG. 5, the free ends of the eye wire 16 may be initially molded in a position spaced inwardly from the temple elements to avoid any undercut in this area. Thus, the normally continuous lens-surrounding frame portion is molded in a discontinuous and deformed manner. After the frame is removed from the mold, the relatively flexible eye wires are easily deflected into alignment with the bow-and-temple member and secured thereto by the interlocking lug 22 and slot 24 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. Referring specifically to FIGS. 1 and 7 through 11, it is seen how the various surfaces of the frame structure are formed by the upper and lower mold block, respectively. Referring first to FIG. 7, the normal separation line of the mold blocks is indicated by the phantom line 40 extending to the left and right of the frame structure. From this view, it is apparent that there are no undercut portions in the area of the bow and bridge piece of the frame structure. In FIGS. 7 through 11 the sections of the frame structure are illustrated in the exact position relative to one another in which they are formed in the mold blocks, with the arrow directed to the two phantom lines extending between the various segments of the frame struc ture indicating the movement of the eye wire relative to the boW-and-temple in order to position the free end of the eye wire with the lug 22 in the slot 24 of temple 12. It is apparent from these five views, taken together, that there are no undercut positions of the mold cavity forming the bow-and-temple element and the lens wire element. Thus, it is apparent that the frame structure may be injection molded by conventional molding apparatus without the necessity of special collapsible or flexible mold elements to form undercut portions or lens-retaining grooves in the frame structure. According to this inven tion, each mold cavity surface is freely retractable over corresponding molded frame surfaces during separation of the mold blocks 35 and 36. In molding some shapes of eyeglass frames, such as that shown in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, it may be necessary or desirable to mold the lens-surrounding frame portion in a discontinuous manner so that all surfaces may easily be reached without the necessity of undercuts.

After the frame structure has been molded, the lens elements 28 may be inserted in the lens openings, with the upper and lower edges thereof disposed in the grooves 31 and 25 respectively, before the free end of the eye wire 16 is permanently assembled to the temple element 12.

Alternatively, the eye wire may be secured to the temple element then deflected downwardly slightly to permit the flexible lens element 28 to be inserted between the bowand-temple element and the eye wire 16. When the lens 28 is to be installed after the eye wire is secured to the temple, it is preferable that the inner shoulders 26 and 31 be terminated at a point spaced from the ends of the lens opening, as at 29, 39 to permit the lens to be more loosely inserted in the opening. It should be understood that lens-surrounding frame portions without temple elements can easily be molded by the method described here, whether the frame is curved as shown, or flat.

Referring now to FIG. 12 an alternate embodiment of an eyeglass assembly molded by the method of the invention, referred to generally by the reference numeral 110, is shown as including a lens wire 116, having one end integrally molded with the bridge piece 114, and having the other end integrally molded with the temple portion 112 of bow-and-temple member 111. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the frame structure of this embodiment may, nevertheless, be injection molded in the manner described above by reducing the section of the temple element near the rearwardly directed end of the lens opening. This reduced section, in combination with the relatively high mold angle avoids an undercut portion in the mold cavity in this area. To produce reduced section, the lens-retaining groove in the temple member 112 is eliminated from the shoulder 142 to the rearward end of the lens opening. However, since the lens element 128 is preferably formed of resilient, normally fiat sheet material and deflected into a curved configuration for insertion into the lens retaining groove, the normal resiliency of the lens 128 will urge the end of the lens into firm engagement with the temple member in this area. Also, elimination of the lens-retaining groove near the ends of the lens opening makes it possible to insert the lens without requiring excessive stress on the frame or excessive deflection of the lens. A shoulder 144 engaging the rearward end of the lens 128, and the bridge element 114 positively retain the lens against axial sliding movement within the lens opening.

In this alternate embodiment of an eyeglass assembly molded by the method of the invention, the frame may be deflected slightly to separate the bow-and-temple member and the lens wire to permit the lens element to be installed in the lens opening. Alternatively, by shaping the lens opening so that its upper and lower edges are substantially parallel, the end of the lens may be inserted in the lens opening at the end thereof Where the lens retaining groove is eliminated, then physically slid along the grooves in thebow-and-temple element and the lens wire to position the lens in the frame.

I claim:

1. In the method of forming an eyeglass frame for supporting elongated curved lens members extending in front of the wearers eyes and rearwardly along the temples, the improvement comprising the steps of injection molding the frame as a unitary structure from a single mas of thermoplastic material, said frame structure including a bow-and-temple member of generally U-shaped configuration adapted to resiliently engage both sides of a wearers head, a nose-engaging bridge piece projecting downwardly from the central portion of said bow-andtemple member, and eye wire elements extending laterally and rearwardly from said bridge element beneath said bow-and-temple member and terminating in a free end, said bow-and-temple member and said eye wires having opposing lens-retaining grooves formed therein for engaging and supporting the peripheral. edge of the elongated lenses, and subsequently securing the free end of said eye wires to said bow-and-temple member, said eye wires and said bow-and-temple member cooperating to define lens openings for supporting elongated lenses in the frame.

2. The method of forming continuous, lens-surrounding eyeglass frame members having lens-retaining grooves along a portion of the inner edges thereof which comprises the steps of:

(a) injection molding said frame as a unitary structure in a cavity between a pair only of cooperating, separable mold blocks, said cavity being discontinuous and adapted to mold portions of the frame deformed from the normal position thereof, and said cavity being oriented in a predetermined angular position relative to the separation direction of said mold blocks such that each surface thereof is freely retractable over corresponding molded eyeglass frame surfaces during separation of said blocks,

(b) subsequently deflecting said deformed portions into the desired normal position, and

(c) permanently securing the frame portions together to form a substantially continuous lens-surrounding frame.

3. The method of forming continuous, lens-surrounding eyeglass frame members having lens-retaining grooves along a substantial portion of the inner edges thereof which comprises the steps of:

(a) injection molding said frame, as a unitary structure from a single mass of thermoplastic material, in a cavity between a pair only of cooperating separable mold blocks, said cavity being oriented in a predetermined angular position relative to the separating direction of said mold blocks such that all surfaces of a frame member molded in said cavity Will be aligned relative to the direction of mold block separating; and

(b) separating said pair of mold blocks in said sepa rating direction whereby each surface of the mold block cavity is freely retracted over corresponding eyeglass frame surfaces molded in the cavity during separation of said blocks.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,406,232 10/1968 Barker 351178 UX 2,746,087 5/1956 Dolezal 29-20 X 3,387,334 6/1968 Belanger et al. 18-42 D X FRANK T. YOST, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

